Whether you call it comics inspired or a comics hybrid, Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series is one of the most successful book series being published with more than 75 million copies in print. Details on the seventh book have just been announced: it will be called “The Third Wheel” and will find Greg Heffley having even more adventures in middle school—adventures perhaps of a romantic nature, as the title might suggest.
The book is getting a 6.5 million copy print run—the largest of any book announced thus far this year.
A third Wimpy Kid movie will be released this August.
In a major press announcement, Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, reveals today the title, projected first printing, and cover of the seventh Diary of a Wimpy Kid book by Jeff Kinney. The Third Wheel will have the largest print run of any title in the series to date, with more than 6.5 million copies. It will be the largest printing of any book in 2012. The cover color is chocolate brown, which complements the red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and ice blue of the first six #1 bestselling books. In The Third Wheel, love is in the air—but what does that mean for Greg Heffley?
“Writing The Third Wheel has been a lot of fun because there’s so much humor to be mined in the world of middle school romance. When the dust settles at the end of the seventh book, the Wimpy universe will be changed in a way that will surprise fans of the series.”
Promotions for The Third Wheel begin at BookExpo 2012 on Tuesday, June 5, with a giant billboard for the book facing the Jacobs Javitz Center on 11th Avenue and giveaways of custom designed chocolate bars featuring the book cover. Author Jeff Kinney will be signing the first-ever Diary of a Wimpy Kid calendar, featuring original art by him, on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, from 4 to 5 p.m. Kinney and ABRAMS have also donated to the ABFFE/ABC auction, which takes place Wednesday, June 6, 2012. The highest bidder will win a trip to New York to walk in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Giant Helium Balloon.
The Third Wheel will follow the sales and publicity momentum of next month’s release of the new edition of the Wimpy Kid Movie Diary and the August 3 release of the next Diary of a Wimpy Kid major motion picture, Dog Days.
“This is the most anticipated book of the year, and we know that kids, fans, their caregivers, librarians, teachers, and friends will be clamoring for Jeff Kinney’s new book,” said Michael Jacobs, President and CEO of Abrams. “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, with more than 75 million copies in print worldwide, are the most successful books—for children or adults—out there. We believe that our laydown of The Third Wheel will make this holiday season a great one for booksellers and for kids.”
Books in the core Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney include Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007), Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2008), Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (2009), Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2009), Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (2010), and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
(2011). Jeff Kinney has also written and illustrated The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book and The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary.The series is a fixture on the USA Today bestseller list and the Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. It has also remained consistently in the top spots on the New York Times lists since publication of the first book in the series in 2007.
More than 75 million Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are in print in 35 languages in more than 36 countries around the world. Published by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, Kinney’s work has been widely praised for its ability to turn reluctant readers on to books. Jeff Kinney was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people in the world. The first movie based on the books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, grossed more than $75 million worldwide in box office sales, and the second movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, was the #1 movie at the box office in its opening weekend in theaters. The book series won Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and Jeff Kinney won a Children’s Choice Book Award in 2012. Books in the series have won numerous awards voted on by students and teachers in schools around the globe. The Wimpy Kid Island, Wimpy Wonderland, on www.poptropica.com, remains one of the most visited on the site.
Comics folks may not consider Wimpy Kid a graphic novel or a comic but the buyer in the education and library market do. Wimpy Kid has them asking for a lot more graphic novels to help deal with the feeding frenzy the series has helped create.
Comics publishers…there’s gold in them thar hills! I’m not sayin stop publishing the older material but for cryin out loud why dont you start pumpin’ out good old fashioned fun comics for kids?
I agree.
Aren’t The Simpsons comics huge in Europe? At least, more than in North America, and they can be found in convenience stores.
And Archie can still be found in grocery stores. They probably pay a pretty penny for that rack space but their target audience is wide and not the niche.
I like my “comics aren’t for kids anymore” graphic novels but there is still a market for kids. People didn’t stop having children, just the bulk of the comic industry stopped marketing to them. And there are still enough kids picking up stuff like this, Harry Potter, Goosebumps, or whatever that the obit of “kids don’t read anymore” isn’t completely true.
Despite the hero movies and the recent decline of manga, all the kids in my classes rather have characters from cartoons like Pokemon, Garfield, and Looney Tunes and draw in a manga style than draw and read about superheroes.
I like the Wimpy Kid series alot and I think they are great for young and old readers alike. Read on!
Go Wimpy Kid!
I’m sure this new book is gonna have something about love.Because Greg is holding a chocolate box and flowers,but he is sad…Perhaps someone broke is heart….
I have been waiting for this! My son loves these books–and I have to admit, so do I. We always see the movies, too. No, they’re not “deep”–but they ARE a lot of fun!